How to make your own Holographic Foil Cards
Welcome to this step by step guide on creating your own Holo Oricas! Caution: These cards can not be used in tournament play and are purely made for the enjoyment of the users and players around them. Please take your time when you are creating these Oricas. The longer it takes the better it looks. 'Materials' #Wash Cloth "This will get messy. Absorb any unwanted and/or excessive fluids." #Cotton Balls #Latex / Vinyl Cleaning Gloves #Laminator (Optional) #Pure Acetone "Be Extremely Cautious With This Chemical! Wear your gloves at all times for safety." #Rubbing Alcohol ( Surgical Spirits in British English ) #Transparent Sticker Paper / Transparent Window Decal #GIMP / Adobe Photoshop ('Photo Editing Software) #Printer "''Inkjet or Laser works. Just from my experience Laser is a cleaner and crisper look." #Straight Edged Ruler #Exacto Knife #Nice Sturdy Table #Hidden Arsenal 1 and below Trading Cards "''Super - Secret Rares from before November 2009." 'Step 1:' Safety Dance Safety First! Put on your gloves and wear a long sleeved shirt just in case the chemicals splash accidentally. Chemical burns may cause blisters, cysts and other dermological problems. So "'''''SUIT UP!" 'Step 2:' Gathering Forces Gather several junk holos. This will be your canvas for the Holo Orica you are going to create. Using older holos cuts down on the process time of all of the work you will be putting into this. Please understand that if you use a card that jumps in value after you create these holos the lose is on you as the user. This is a purely informational tutorial. 'Step 3:' Wipe On, Wipe Off Generously cover a Cotton Ball in the Acetone. Then wipe side to side or up and down on the front of the card to clean of the ink that is covering the holofoil. This will take a lot of time and is really the majority of the difficult work to be done. If you would like to make a place to hold the card in place just get a piece of cardboard and some tape then tape the corners down to the cardboard. It will be a nice sturdy workstation for the project. Make sure not to get any of the Acetone on the back of the card. Acetone is a paper thinner and will eat away at the ink in the card's back making it feel gritty and worn out. 'Step 4: '''Spit-Shined Generously cover another Cotton Ball in Rubbing Alcohol. Then wipe side to side or up and down on the front of the card to clean of the excess ink that is covering the holofoil. This is the "Spit-Shine" step of the tutorial. Make sure the card is completely clean of the Acetone before you begin this process. Lightly pat the card with your wash cloth til dry. Do not wipe with the wash cloth because you will leave scrapes and scars on the holofoil. Now begin to wipe back and forth; up and down with the cotton ball until you get a glossy unclouded shine from the holofoil. Periodically pat clean the card with your wash cloth. 'Step 5:' Myspace Angle Load GIMP/Photoshop and begin to edit then print the Orica. This is one of the most important stages of this process. You will be printing this image so you have to make sure that you have it the correct size first. (Link for: Adobe Photoshop CS5 PSD) *DPI: 300 *PX: 787px x 1144px *CM: 6.49cm x 9.2cm *IN: 2.557in x 3.623in The image will be very large, but that is perfectly fine. You will have enough room for the picture and a bleed allowing you more room for error. When you are printing the image; do so on Transparent Sticker Paper or Transparent Window Decal. Transparent Window Decal is a thinner material and easier to cut, but is extremely hard to find. Transparent Sticker Paper can be found on eBay, Amazon or at any of your Local Office Supplies Stores. 'Step 6:' Snip Snip Once the Orica has been printed and is to your satisfaction; peel the film from the Transparent Sticker Paper and lay the holofoil on it aligned the best way you can. After you have aligned it properly, and allowed it a minute or so to dry, it's time to cut it out. Using the Straight Edged Ruler and our Exacto Knife cut off the extra sticker paper to fit the card perfectly. ''Optional: If you want to round out the edges just used a pair of scissors and slowly cut around the edges. 'Step 7': Home Stretch Finalizing this project is the easiest part. Place the card in a sleeve than get two very large, very heavy books and place the card between them for 45 - 60 Minutes. This step is to secure the bond between the card and the sticker paper. Be patient and it will pay off. Optional: If you have a laminator put the card in a sheet of folded paper without a card sleeve on it and feed it through. The laminator uses heat to compress the card almost instantly. Do not force it through or all of your work will be for nothing. Closing I hope this tutorial has helped you out. It's one of many ways you can actually make an Orica but it's the easiest way I know of currently. Resources *GIMP: http://www.gimp.org/ *Adobe Photoshop:http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html http://www.adobe.com/